This blog revolves around the dual concepts of “Reality” and “Illusion”. In the post 9/11 world it can be difficult to distinguish between reality and illusion as facts are altered and new pseudo-realities are created. In 2002 a White House aide said: “We’re an empire now and when we act we create our own reality. And while you’re studying that reality we’ll act again, creating other new realities.”
There is also the ultimate Reality - alluded to in the very first post of this blog.

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Monday, April 4, 2011

Libya! Here we come!!

With hindsight, my blog The Fall of the American Empire last February may have been a bit premature. I had underestimated the cunning and sheer ruthlessness of the USA Administration. The Americans, and their sidekick the NATO countries, are adept at turning a blind eye to the worst sort of barbarities so long as their interests are not threatened. Bahrain, the oil-rich state under the USA's thumb, is a good example where it is OK for the rulers to kill their own citizens without fear of condemnation by the USA or NATO. Not so Libya, another oil-and-gas play not totally subservient to modern-day imperialist powers.

I was taken by surprise at the speed with which the "conscience" of NATO countries has been aroused following the deaths of hundreds of Libyans at the hands of the tyrant Gaddafi. The hypocrisy of western governments and a lot of the comment in the newspapers is nauseating.

Not a mirage! Loaded with 'gifts' for Libya

French Mirage bombs Libya

The destruction

..... and the inevitable funeral

At this very moment the Indian Army in Kashmir is engaged in genocide - over 100,000 Kashmiris are said to have died over the last decade. Far from there being UN resolutions condemning the actions of India's government, the USA president and the British Prime Minister visit India so they can sell their goods and services there. They both act as if they are totally ignorant of the atrocities committed by the Indian army in Kashmir.

Israel continues to act against the Palestinians exactly as the German Nazis treated the Jews of Europe. As the recent Al-Jazeera/the Guardian revelations show, the USA is complicit in the macabre game of murder and humiliation in which the Israel government has been engaged for years.

For the last several years the USA has been regularly attacking Pakistan with pilot-less aircraft, the so-called drones, which rain down death and misery from the skies on the hapless Pakistanis. According to the USA journalists, over 97% of those who die are innocent citizens while fewer than 3% are "terrorists". The world is silent and Pakistan's puppet of a president declares he is "not worried about collateral damage"!

In Afghanistan routine killings of ordinary citizens are common, both by the foreign occupation forces and by the local Taliban. It is difficult to tell which of these two parties is more barbaric. The invasion of Afghanistan is a mystery, based on one-sided accusations by the USA. An Arab fugitive hiding in that backward country is said to have plotted, and successfully carried out, an ingenious and highly intricate attack on the "twin towers" of New York and on the Pentagon building! No one ever explained how the third tower collapsed mysteriously or why the evidence was removed from the scene of the crime and destroyed.

Then, there was Iraq, the oil producer. Its government was accused of possessing weapons of mass destruction and the country was invaded. A million Iraqis have since died but the UN has done nothing to punish those who took the decision to invade. The war criminals Bush and Blair roam free!

When the dust has settled on the "liberation movements" of the resources-rich Middle East we'll probably find that the real winners are not the people of those lands but the governments of the USA and the NATO countries, who will somehow manage to install pliant yes-men as rulers. If you doubt this, take a good long look at the two stooges - Zardari and Gilani - who head the government of Pakistan. I still think the American Empire is heading towards a fall but it won't be a dramatic event similar to the breakup of the Soviet Union - it will be a slow collapse spread over a number of years.

Tailpiece

Johann Hari is one of the foremost journalists in the UK. He writes for The Independent where his article, "We're not being told the truth on Libya", was published on 8 April. It is a compelling read, the link is:

My own comment on this article was:"Johann Hari, you are spot on. The ruthless honesty you show in your articles seems to frighten a lot of people because, in moral terms, the western democracies appear little better than dictatorships and police states. Can you turn your formidable intellect to the question of how the rotten western political systems can be improved? A system that can transform the fresh-faced candidate Obama into the duplicitous monster he is today is hardly worth preserving."

16 comments:

Mr. Blogger, take a look at all those societies and countries which are faced with instability and upheavel - they are all Islamic. The root cause of the trouble is the way in which they have distorted religion in order to further their own agendas. For instance, Kashmir may be a political issue but has been give a religious colour in Pakistan and all Islamic countries. So is the case with Palestine. In your country, education is a means for spreading hatred against infidels. Blame India, the West and Zionists for all the problems faced within. Keep Kashmir issue alive so that Pakistan can remain at least a country on paper. These idiotic conspiracy theories can fool some people for some time, not in perpetuity.

As you suggest, I have taken a look around. I see that a foremost trouble spot is Ivory Coast. You have certainly added to my knowledge by informing me that this is an Islamic country/society.

Next, Kashmir. The uprising there is being sustained by Kashmiri youth, not by the tired old Kashmiri politicians. As for the risible government of Pakistan, we learn from WikiLeaks that it can set its sights no higher than doing a secret deal with the Indians! Other Islamic countries, especially the Arab countries, do not seem much concerned with the sufferings of Kashmiris. So, what are you saying? Are you condoning genocide in Kashmir simply because the Kashmiris are Muslim and are resisting occupation by the Indian army numbering 700,000?

You say, “so is the case with Palestine”. Indeed, that is very true. Like the Kashmiris, the Palestinians want to live in freedom, not in thrall to an occupying power. You are absolutely right – this is primarily a political problem. The Christian Edward Said and the Jewish Noam Chomsky have written extensively about this problem.

Islam teaches human brotherhood because all humanity has originated from a single essence - but the governments of Muslim countries only pay lip service to this teaching. The powerful non-Muslim countries of the world talk hypocritically of human values while plundering the natural resources of weaker nations through brute force. The problem facing humanity today is how to come to terms with selfish self-interest of powerful nations (USA, India, Israel, etc) and of individuals wielding power (Gaddafi, etc).

Let me quote from one of my recent blog posts:

“What we need in Pakistani politics is honesty, justice, and courage to resist tyranny and oppression. That was the DEEN or CODE OF CONDUCT that Iqbal and Jinnah talked about. Without that quality in politics we will end up with immoral political systems such as those we have in the USA and Pakistan. In some ways the USA political system is worse than Pakistan’s, because it denies genuine democracy to nations which are not yet considered “developed” and it allows the American government to launch murderous attacks on them, killing hundreds of thousands of their citizens with its hi-tech weaponry”.

Thank you for highlighting about the problem in Cote d'Ivoire. In any case I was referring to the problems created in the name of religion from Philippines in the East to Africa and beyond (West).

Now to some of your moronic comments like uprising in Kashmir being sustained by the youth. Youth from where? Madrassas in Pakistan, Mr. Blogger or Kashmiri youth brainwashed with radical Wahabbi/Salafi teachings and trained to fight proxy war against India. This is what the clerics like Hafeez Saeed of LeT or JuD (as Pakis refer to his organisation) in your homecountry do. You expect India to suck on its thumbs while this fanatics run amok.And who the hell provides with figures of 1,00,000 killed by Indian troops and the stationing of 7,00,000 troops? Typical Paki propaganda being indulged by someone who is totally far away from the conflict zone. Ditto as far as Israel. Hamas is entitled to rain Qassam rockets on Israel and Jews are expected to applaud? What kind of logic do you apply?

Mr. Blogger are you in charge of statistics in Pakistan? Where the hell do you get 97% of the people in the areas of Waziristan are innocent? I think it is 3% innocents who are suffering on account of the 97% terrorists. (In any case Pakistan is one big terror training centre; Some fight with guns and grenades and others like Ahmad Quraishi with disinformation and propaganda). All the Haqqani network and the Mullah Omars of the world are believed to be located in this place. That is primarily the reason why the Paki Army does not conduct any operations in North Waziristan.

The problem, Mr. Blogger, that is being faced by the civilised world, is "how to tackle radical Islam and those who propagate it?" The selfish self interest attributed to the so-called powerful nations is a figment of your imagination. Had India and Israel, pursued selfish self interest, the issue of Kashmir and Palestine would have ceased to exist.

Will you never learn? Has your blind prejudice and visceral hatred of Muslims squeezed all notions of honesty and integrity out of your soul? OK, the Holocaust never happened and the tale of six million Jewish deaths at the hands of Hitler’s Nazis is a figment of Zionist imagination!

We have discussed Kashmir at length in previous blogs and you know very well that the sources of my information are primarily British or American. You can get all the hard facts about Kashmir and Palestine by using Google. I would particularly recommend to you the disclosure of Palestinian secret documents published by Al-Jazeera and the Guardian. These relate to the laughable game of “peace process” which had been going on for the last 20 years.

Your prejudiced mind seems unable to grasp the simple point that the internet has, to a large extent, made the Israeli and American propaganda ineffective.

Unless you are able to cultivate a modicum of honesty, avoid propaganda and learn to argue on the basis of hard facts, you will remain a hate-filled, sad and forlorn human being. Last September you posted a couple of abusive posts here, which you later deleted to avoid becoming a laughing stock. The reaction to those posts was as follows:

Sakib Ahmad said... Ha ha ha! Man, I thought you were an Indian Jew but you turn out to be an Israeli Zionist! That explains the totally unscrupulous and hate-filled comments you pour out here. This blog seems to have a magical power to draw out the evil that seems to reside within you.

Wake up, man, this post of mine is heavily critical of my compatriots - it is only in the context of sectarian killings that I mention the USA-Israel-India axis of evil.September 13, 2010 6:38 PM

Lost-in-cyberspace said...Dear Sakib,

You have previously mentioned this man's "visceral hatred of Pakistan and Pakistanis". I think it is more than that. He is based in Israel and he clearly belongs to the group of Pakistan's enemies who are out to destroy our country.

Your blog is one of the most critical about Pakistan but the criticism is based on love for Pakistan and its people. This is what your blog's nemesis cannot stomach. You have criticised Pakistan's government, army, civil service, society, Taliban, religious extremists, etc but he is blind to that criticism. As soon as you mention foreign meddling in Pakistan, this enemy-of-Pakistan starts shooting from the hip, to suppress reality and create an illusion.

The Enemy-of-Pakistan's use of the word 'cancer' is the last straw. Please, please, introduce moderation in your blog. This may take some people away from your blog but this SURGERY is necessary to remove the CANCER from Israel which has taken root in your blog. This cancerous growth may eventually cost you more readers compared to comment moderation.

September 13, 2010 11:55 PM

Comment deletedThis post has been removed by the author.

September 14, 2010 10:32 AM Sakib Ahmad said...Dear Lost,

Thank you for your perceptive comments. It seems "Enemy-of-Pakistan" has taken the hint - he has deleted both of his posts in which his penchant for abuse had touched new heights. In the second of his two posts he had made fun of you for suggesting that he is from Israel.

Comment deletedThis post has been removed by the author.September 15, 2010 7:44 AM

Pakistan's Nemesis said...Mr. Blogger and his reader Permanently Lost are like Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. They are both very good in detection work. One discovered that I was based in Israel and the other copied and posted my profile above. Great!!

Among the comments on Johann Hari's article is one which lists quotes by Israeli Jews or other Zionists (which the Israeli visitor here will be particularly interested to read):

1. "There is a huge gap between us (Jews) and our enemies, not just in ability but in morality, culture, sanctity of life, and conscience. They are our neighbors here, but it seems as if at a distance of a few hundred meters away, there are people who do not belong to our continent, to our world, but actually belong to a different galaxy." Israeli president Moshe Katsav. The Jerusalem Post, May 10, 2001.

2. "Our race is the Master Race. We are divine gods on this planet. We are as different from the inferior races as they are from insects. In fact, compared to our race, other races are beasts and animals, cattle at best. Other races are considered as human excrement. Our destiny is to rule over the inferior races. Our earthly kingdom will be ruled by our leader with a rod of iron. The masses will lick our feet and serve us as our slaves." - Israeli prime Minister Menachem Begin in a speech to the Knesset [Israeli Parliament] quoted by Amnon Kapeliouk, "Begin and the Beasts," New Statesman, June 25, 1982.

3. "Every time we do something you tell me America will do this and will do that . . . I want to tell you something very clear: Don't worry about American pressure on Israel . We, the Jewish people, control America , and the Americans know it." - Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, October 3, 2001, to Shimon Peres, as reported on Kol Yisrael radio.(recorded)

4. "We Jews, we are the destroyers and will remain the destroyers. Nothing you can do will meet our demands and needs. We will forever destroy because we want a world of our own." (You Gentiles, by Jewish Author Maurice Samuels, p. 155).

5. "We will have a world government whether you like it or not. The only question is whether that government will be achieved by conquest or consent." (Jewish Banker Paul Warburg, February 17, 1950, testifying before the U.S. Senate).

6. "You know very well, and the stupid Americans know equally well, that we control their government, irrespective of who sits in the White House. You see, I know it and you know it that no American president can be in a position to challenge us even if we do the unthinkable. What can they (Americans) do to us? We control congress, we control the media, we control show biz, and we control everything in America . In America you can criticize God, but you can't criticize Israel ." - Israeli spokeswoman, Tzipora Menache 2009

The Islam-hater who has put up a piece of stale news (2008!) in the immediately preceding comment should know that this kind of thing can backfire. Christianity-haters can hit back with sordid stories of Christian priests in Europe and the Americas abusing little children. This blog will not permit that kind of warfare.

It is easy to commit vile things under the cloak of anonymity. I will not permit hate-filled material at this blog. For this reason I have deleted the previous comment.

My views on the Islamic world are well known: for many centuries it was a beacon of light, benefiting the rest of the world at a time when Europe wallowed in its Dark Age. Thereafter, as Europe took up the baton and raced on, the Islamic world has receded into darkness. Much of the Islamic world today is actually anti-Islamic, and its "priesthood" a blot on the name of Islam.

If you wish to know what Islam is about, you can refer to two previous posts in this blog.

removing my comment which is a link only shows how intolerant Muzzies are. islamists hate dissent. you are no different from that bakri chap. christianity evolved and progressed with times. islam did not. this religion is out of tune with the times in which we live.

Thankfully, British society is one of the most tolerant and hospitable in the world. However, as in any society, it does have an ugly side to it. Those of my readers who live outside the UK may feel appalled at the extremist rants of this anonymous British extremist, but do remember that these unfortunate souls only represent a minority of British people.

The bigots in the UK gleefully pounce on the worst examples of bad behaviour among Muslims and generalise that behaviour, linking it to Islam! This anonymous person had given a link to a website which made fun of Islam by bringing up the 2008 case of Omar Bakri, an extremist Muslim expelled from the UK. Bakri, a fanatical orator, was 50 and was married to a 48 years old English woman. Outside the UK they couldn't get on, so he divorced her and married a 26 years old woman. The website found it revolting that the new wife was one year younger than Bakri's 27-year-old "pole dancing daughter".

That disgusting website has no notions of fairness and it exists to malign Islam any way it can. Had I not deleted this fanatic's comment I would have had to deal with filthy comments from Muslim fanatics about the sexual abuse and murders of little children at the hands of Christian priests.

I have now introduced moderation at this blog. I do not like it myself but I hope readers will accept that this step was necessary for the sake of good race relations in the UK.

By the way, this anonymous contributor has made a fourth comment - which I have deleted - in which he suggests that I should go and live in Saudi Arabia! This ignorant Islam-hater has no idea that the Saudi society is actually the antithesis of Islam.

you introduced moderation because the truth and facts about muzzies and especially pakistanis is bitter and it is difficult to hear the truth. people like you have taken advantage of the liberal british society to spread hatred against britain and the west. instead of spreading false information about western society, go out in the streets and reform those rogues of your community who believe that committing acts of terror in the name of religion will help them attain heaven and 72virgins. your blog finds fault with all the non-muslims like jews and hindoos, but never has a problem with taliban, al qaeda, hamas and other radical groups. you observe that the drone attacks kills innocents in pakistan. have you gone there to find out who calls the shots in pakistan? the answer is fundamentalists. before calling me extremist look at the society you come from.

May I ask that you base your comments on facts and not on pre-conceived ideas? If, indeed, you have the courage of your convictions – assuming that your comments are based on genuine conviction and not on blind prejudice – then it would be more becoming if you would drop the mask of anonymity.

You have made your ill-judged comments about this blog from a position of ignorance. How many of my blog posts have you actually read? If you would kindly read a few you may find that your closed mind is beginning to open up a little. You need to be aware that this blog is a severe critic of Muslims, especially Pakistanis (did you read the article on Islam?). Here is an example from a comment I have made previously:

“Pakistan's government and its army are not just supporters, they actually participate in acts of terrorism. Allah asks us in the Qur'an to resist and fight the oppressors. We need to clean up our government and our army and live as free and proud individuals who uphold human values as abundantly explained in the Qur'an. We need to free ourselves from subjugation to home-grown tyrants as well as their foreign masters, who keep them in power because they serve them so well.”

Generally, this blog is against oppression, injustice and hypocrisy wherever they occur. Among the most oppressive societies/ governments today are Saudi Arabia (Islam turned on its head), Israel (discriminatory laws against non-Jews and Palestinian holocaust), Iran (theocratic state), the USA (imperial conquests abroad resulting in millions of human deaths), the USA’s client states in the Middle East (Bahrain, Yemen, etc), some African countries, etc ….. the list is a long one.

You have made certain accusations against me. May I ask that you either apologise or justify those accusations? Let me list them for you:

1. I am taking advantage of the liberal British society to spread hatred against Britain and the West.

Fact: I stand for “unity with diversity”. People should have the freedom to live their lives in accordance with their convictions BUT only in the context of a peaceful and harmonious society.

2. My blog finds fault with all the non-Muslims like Jews and Hindus.

Fact: this blog does not comment on religions other than Islam.

3. This blog never has a problem with the Taliban, Al-Qaeda, Hamas (and other unnamed “radical groups”).

Fact: I have referred to Pakistani Taliban (TTP) as monsters and sub-human creatures. I do not understand the exact nature of Al-Qaeda, where reality and fiction (principally, the unrelenting USA propaganda) have mingled inextricably.

In 2001 the Taliban government of Afghanistan had offered to have Osama Bin Laden tried in a neutral country where the USA would be able to provide all the evidence it had against him. This offer was rejected by the USA, which wanted Bin Laden to be handed over to its custody merely on the strength of its accusation that he had organized the attacks on the NY Trade Centre and the Pentagon building. To its credit, the response of the Afghan government was: if you refuse to provide proof of Bin Laden’s involvement in the crime against humanity then there will be no handover. The rest is history: invasion and occupation of Afghanistan (which is next door to the USA’s perceived rivals Russia and China and to the resources- rich Central Asia, not to mention Afghanistan’s own titanium deposits) and merciless torture of “suspects” (the principal suspect, Sheikh Muhammad, was tortured and water boarded some 190 times and, 10 years after the crime, will be “tried” in secret at the infamous Guantanamo Bay military base operated by the Americans).

Wherever there are foreign occupation forces there will be Resistance. So, there are genuine Resistance struggles going on in Afghanistan, the tribal areas of Pakistan, Palestine and Kashmir.

i don't need to apologise to you or anyone else. it matters very little to anybody as to who i am. what matters are perceptions and how the world perceives islam and muslims.

for instance this statement from your comment "Allah asks us in the Qur'an to resist and fight the oppressors" is highly subjective, simply because the US, israel, india and all those liberals who do not adhere to the fundamentalist version of islam are oppressors according to taliban, al qaeda and the numerous groups which operate in Pakistan and middle eastern states. need i say anything more. who is to define "oppression" and who is to define the expression "freedom fighter" You call the terrorists attacking Israel and those blowing up themselves in afghanistan as freedom fighters or resistance groups. it sounds like a joke.

Mr. Ahmad, you have a conspiracy theory for every terrorist attack attributed to Muslims and Pakistanis; you don't even believe that 9/11 was perpetrated by Muslims. So also you do not believe that the Mumbai attacks were handiwork of your noble countrymen. Apparently according to you there is a world wide conspiracy to discredit Pakistanis. You expect that we are stupid enough to believe the Taliban on its offer of prosecuting bin Laden in a neutral country. And demanding proof of his role in 9/11. Your noble countrymen denied that Pakistani troops were ever involved in Kargil till intercepts of your army commanders were made public. your countrymen denied that terrorists who attacked Mumbai were Pakistanis till the security agencies captured one attacker alive. US did not pick on afghanistan at random (like playing a game of dice). the 9/11 attacks originated from af-pak and taliban played a generous host to Laden (irrespective of whether you believe it or not)

Gitmo came into being because of terrorists under the influence of islam made 9/11 happen. and you expect the US to suck its thumbs. except for muslims and some fringe loony groups, nobody has a problem with gitmo. all those mad islamists need to be lodged in that place permanently. at least the world would be much safer.

in this very post you have copied from one of your earlier posts referring to some guy as Israeli Zionist.

again in your own noble country a governor gets killed for supporting a christian woman and a christian minister is also killed. whose cause are you espousing? or are someone who has gone bonkers?

reading your blogs gives the impression that it is pakistan and its people are victims and the rulers, america, western countries, etc are the bad guys. the bad guys in your system are from within not from outside. if the components of your society are cleansed of fanatics, there may be no occasion to brand pakistan as a terror hub.

Looking at my blog statistics, you seem to have come here from The Independent newspaper. I wonder if you are Charles Beadon, whose extremist outbursts littered the online discussions at Independent?

So, you have the right to malign me with false accusations and you don’t need to apologise! That speaks volumes about the kind of person you are. The governments you admire – the USA, Israel and India – do exactly the same thing. They make false accusations and then their formidable propaganda machinery goes into overdrive to brainwash the world’s citizens.

In the 1980’s the Soviet Union invaded and occupied Afghanistan. There was naturally an Afghan Resistance against it, supported by the Pushtuns of neighbouring Pakistan. The USA was overjoyed. It described the Resistance as composed of Mujahideen, the glory of Islam, and invited their leaders to Washington where the USA president welcomed them with open arms in the White House. Billions of dollars were poured into the Afghan struggle against foreign occupation until the Soviet army was defeated and the USA could heave a sigh of relief. Thereupon, the USA turned its back on Afghanistan, leaving the country and the border areas of Pakistan replete with all kinds of weapons. The various Afghan factions began fighting among themselves and a civil war followed, eventually ending in a Taliban victory.

Surely, the principle of defending Afghan soil against foreign invasion is still valid now that the invader is the USA rather than the Soviet Union? It is obvious from what you have said that you are one of those hypocrites who feebly come up with the cruel joke of “9/11”, knowing full well that the USA government has gone out of its way not to hold an open trial of those it accuses of involvement in that crime. Despite persistent pressure for years from the relatives of those who died in that tragedy, the US government has stubbornly refused to hold an independent inquiry.

I have previously commented on the USA government’s cover-up of the 9/11 self-inflicted wound:

“The odd thing about the 9/11 incident is that the story put about by the USA government does NOT fit the facts. This is believed to be the principal reason why the Americans were in such a hurry to destroy all evidence of the tragedy and clear away the rubble of the buildings and the remains of the aircraft without allowing independent investigators a look-in. The convoluted “conspiracy theory” put together by the USA government has been widely discredited. Numerous books have been written and there are many websites devoted to the mystery of 9/11. Here is a small sample:

9/11 Revealed by Ian Henshall & Rowland Morgan

The New Pearl Harbour Revisited: 9/11, the Cover-up and the Expose” by David Ray Griffin

www.911truth.org

A fact which has been suppressed by the USA government is that shortly after the 9/11 atrocity the Taliban government of Afghanistan offered up Bin Laden for trial in a neutral country. The Bush administration was frantically trying to suppress the truth about 9/11 and rejected the offer – because an open trial of Bin Laden would have revealed its lies and false claims.”

Regarding the Mumbai massacre, the whole case rests on the “confession” extracted out of Kassab in police custody (just as Sheikh Muhammad’s “confession” was obtained by the Americans through torture and water boarding). A key character in this tragedy was Headley, a CIA operative. Let us hope that the truth, whatever it is, will emerge at some point in the future. You will find a discussion at the end of the following blog post:

http://sakibahmad.blogspot.com/2010/07/terrorising-pakistan.html

By the way, you have conveniently omitted to mention the Samjhota Express massacre, for which the Indian/American propaganda promptly blamed Pakistan. By the time the Hindu terrorists were identified it was too late because the damage to Pakistan’s reputation had already been done.

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About Me

Coming from the East and living in the West, I now belong to neither. Everywhere I have observed so much intolerance and an inability to understand each other's point of view that I have come to consider 'nationalism' as an evil. I perceive divisions of East and West as artificial because they create needless strife and intolerance in the world. The whole human race ought to live in harmony, sharing knowledge and experiences while avoiding harmful nationalism. Knowledge and wisdom, whether of the East or the West, are my heritage as a human being.
As a ‘citizen of the world’ I see myself as a tolerant Muslim in accordance with Quranic precepts. I have learnt much from exposure to western knowledge and culture, which has - surprisingly? - strengthened my own roots in Pakistani culture and Urdu, the language of Iqbal and Ghalib.
On Twitter: @RealandIllusory